THE BATTLE OF POZIERES, SOMME VALLEY, FRANCE (23^rd July – 3^rd September)
Just after midnight on July 23^rd 1916, the Australian 1^st Division attacked the village of Pozières. They went on to take the village but the capture of Pozières only served to cruelly expose the Australian troops to the enemy. The German commanders then turned the guns of an entire army corps onto the Australian soldiers and pounded them with an intense three sided artillery bombardment. To this day it is the most sustained artillery attack to ever be experienced in wartime.

But this was just the beginning. The battle went on for another seven weeks until September 3rd, 1916. In that time there were 23,000 casualties in the AIF in and around Pozieres, more than 6700 of whom were killed, most of whom still have no marked grave. Historian Charles Bean famously said the fields around Pozieres were “more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth”.

Pte Ralph Goode (Lilydale), 2^nd Field Ambulance: In France. In his diary – ‘Still going strong our boys are magnificent they’ve got Fritz right up to the village of Pozieres’.

Pte Sydney Shore (Mooroolbark), 8^th Battalion: Is wounded in action, injury to left foot, and is evacuated to hospital in England.